PEOPLE
At Insight Editions, Simon Fraser joins as Chief Financial Officer. He was previously VP of Finance and Operations at DK Publishing. Mike Degler, formerly General Manager at Prima Games, joins as Publishing Director of the new gaming division, Insight Gaming. Vicki Jaeger joins as Editorial Director and Acting Managing Editor overseeing the Insight Editions imprint; she had been Development Editor at Readerlink. Katie Killebrew, formerly Associate Editorial Director at Gibbs Smith, joins as Editorial Director, Weldon Owen. Sara Miller has been named Associate Publisher; she was previously Editorial Director at Melissa & Doug. Robin Gonci joins as Director of Marketing and Ecommerce. Lara Starr, lately Senior Publicist at Chronicle Books, joins as Senior Publicist and Marketing Strategist. Finally, Jeff Barton has been named Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships.
Kevin Conklin joins Scholastic as SVP, Corporate Operations. He was formerly VP, Operations Americas for Pandora Jewelry. Michella Domenici joins as Coordinator for Licensing, Media & Brands; most recently she was Senior Editorial Assistant at Springer Nature Group. Additionally, Salena Johnson joins as Junior Designer, Licensing Design. She was previously Book Production Designer at Marvel Entertainment.
At Hachette, Rina Posa joins as VP, Supply Chain. Previously she was Director, Demand Planning at Simon & Schuster.
At HarperCollins, Sarah Murphy, formerly Executive Editor at Flatiron, joins as Executive Editor of the Ecco imprint on May 10. Jamie Lockard will take over as VP and Publisher at Harper Leadership on May 17, succeeding Jeff James, who is leaving “to explore startup business opportunities and finish his PhD in organizational leadership.” Lockard has previously been VP of Marketing at Nelson Books. At Harper Christian, Matthew McGhee joins as Associate Publisher for the Spanish division, which includes Vida and Grupo Nelson. Previously he worked with Ligonier Ministries, where he managed Spanish, Portuguese, and French outreach. At HarperCollins Children’s Publishing, Erin Hamling joins as Senior Production Editor; she had been Development Editor at Oxford University Press. Additionally, Emily Mannon, lately Associate Marketing Manager, Trade at Holiday House, joins as Marketing Manager, while Kendall Klapp, lately Designer at the University of West Georgia, joins as Designer. Additionally, Natalie Weaver, formerly Academic Marketing Assistant at Bloomsbury Publishing, joins HarperCollins as Speakers Bureau Associate.
Nicole Elmes, formerly Director of Product Strategy and Distribution at Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, joins Disney Publishing Group as VP of Sales.
At IPG, Ilene Schreider, formerly Senior Sales Manager at Sourcebooks, joins as Director for Special Sales. Melanie Roth, lately Director of Sales and Marketing at Fulcrum Publishing, joins as Sales Manager for Chicago Review Press. Chris Conti, formerly Midwest Sales Rep at Phaidon, joins as Trade Sales Manager. And Alicia Sparrow joins as Acquisitions Editor for Lawrence Hill Books.
Paul Harrington, formerly US Sales Manager of Bergahn Books, joins Well-Trained Mind Press as Sales Director.
Ellen Folan joins Penguin Random House Audio as Director of Publicity, moving over from her previous role as Associate Director of Publicity at Crown. Michael Hoak joins Random House as Marketing Manager; he was formerly Online Marketing Manager for Yale University Press. Maya Millet, founder of MDash Productions, joins Dial Press as Senior Editor. At Vintage/Anchor, Penelope Belnap joins as Associate Publicist and Su-Yee Lin joins as Assistant Managing Editor. Over at the Penguin Random House library marketing team, Sharon Parker has retired as Director, Library Sales after a thirty-year career.
At Bloomsbury USA, Angela Craft, lately Marketing Director at Avon and Voyager, joins as Brand Director, while Lauren Ollerhead, lately Associate Publicist at Tiller Press, joins as Publicist.
At POW! Kids Books, Michael Buckley joins as Editorial Director. He can be contacted at michael@powkidsbooks.com.
In agency news, Sulamita Garbuz joins the Frances Goldin Literary Agency as Associate Agent and Rights Director. She was previously Associate Agent at Trident Media Group.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Katie Tull, previously Assistant Marketing Manager at Random House and One World joins as Marketing Manager, while Francesca Carlos, lately Marketing Assistant at Simon & Schuster, joins as Marketing Specialist. Jillian Crab joins Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s as Production Coordinator. She was previously Design Coordinator at BOOM! Studios.
At knk, Shona Burns, formerly Executive Director of Production at Chronicle, joins as Implementation Consultant.
Helen Seachrist joins Macmillan Children’s as Senior Production Editor. She had been Production Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
At Fair Winds Press, Emily Carleton joins as Senior Acquisitions Editor. She had been Senior Editor at Tiller Press.
At Sourcebooks, Pam Seatter joins as Senior Production Designer. Hayden Holota joins as Print Buyer. Additionally, Andrea Aguiniga joins as Customer Experience Representative.
Alyssa diPierro joins the Simon & Schuster imprint as Marketing Coordinator.
At Hachette Book Group/Hachette Nashville, Kaitlin Mays joins as Digital Marketing Manager. She was previously Marketing Manager at Word Music.
Laura O’Neal, previously Book and Media Buyer at Event Network, joins ReaderLink Marketing Services as Product Manager.
Lizzi Middleman joins Gibbs Smith as Marketing Manager for Trade. She was previously Marketing Manager at Choose Your Own Adventure (Chooseco).
At VIZ Media, Eden Julia Sugay joins as Publishing Sales Manager on May 17. She had been Sales & Marketing Manager at Chronicle Books.
Samuel Rutter joins Astra Magazine as Deputy Editor, while Kelly Yue joins Astra Publishing House as Staff Accountant. Thalia Leaf joins calkins creek as Associate Editor.
PROMOTIONS
Alyson Forbes has become COO of Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press, where Sarah Jean Grimm and Lena Moses-Schmitt both move up to Assistant Director of Publicity. Colin Drohan is now Assistant Director of Writing Programs at Catapult.
At Disney Publishing Group, Carol Roeder is now Director and Associate Publisher for all Disney imprints. Kieran Viola becomes Director of Editorial at Hyperion, and Jennifer Levesque becomes Director of Editorial at Hyperion Avenue.
As Liese Mayer, Editorial Director for Fiction, departs Bloomsbury, Nancy S. Miller has been promoted to Publishing Director for Adult Trade and Mary Kate Castellani moves up to Publishing Director for Children’s Trade.
At Sourcebooks, Lynn Dilger moves up to SVP, Chief Technology Officer. Tiffany Schultz is now Assistant Marketing Manager for Retail Marketing and Creative Services. At Sourcebooks Landmark, Cristina Arreola becomes Marketing Manager. Stefani Sloma becomes Associate Marketing Manager at Sourcebooks Casablanca.
At Scholastic, Raghushri Sankaran becomes SVP and Chief Information Officer.
Netta Rabin, VP, Publisher & Creative Director of Klutz, is now also Head of Klutz. She takes over as Stacy Lellos, President of Klutz, departs to pursue other opportunities. Vanessa Han moves up to Art Director, Klutz. In the Scholastic Trade division, Emily Heddleson becomes Director, Library & Educational Marketing and Vicki Kopidakis becomes Marketing Associate, Advertising. Taylan Salvati and Sydney Tillman have both been promoted to Senior Publicist, while Jordana Kulak becomes Associate Publicist. Susan Lee moves up to Associate Production Director and Melissa Schirmer to Senior Production Editor. Maya Marlette has been promoted to Editor, Scholastic Press, while Tiffany Colón becomes Associate Editor for the same. Conor Lloyd is now Assistant Editor, Licensed Publishing.
At Penguin Random House, Jennifer Childs has been promoted to VP, Director of the (unified and renamed) Library Marketing and Digital Library Sales Group. Within that group, Brian Nelsen and Hugo Bresson both move up to Senior Sales Manager. Also at PRH, Rachael Perriello has been promoted to Senior Director, Licensing, while Stephanie Bowen moves up to Director, Author Development and Phil Stamper-Halpin becomes Associate Director, Author Development. Erica Melnichok becomes Knopf Doubleday Group Senior Library Marketing Manager. At Penguin Random House Audio, Julia Tabas moves up to Senior Publicist.
Clark Matthews becomes VP and General Manager of IPG Ink at IPG.
At VitalSource, Nancy Stosik has been promoted to Head of the Enterprise team. Shanna Daniel moves up to Director, Customer Success for the Publisher Customer Success Team. Kendall Koliopoulos becomes Manager, Customer Success for the Partner Team.
Erika Stevens has been promoted to Editorial Director at Coffee House Press, where Carla Valadez becomes Managing Editor.
Lisa Rudden moves up to Assistant Art Director at Candlewick Press. Lindsay Yanow and Charlotte Roth both become Associate Account Manager. Additionally, Jackie Shepherd has been promoted to Senior Designer.
In agency news…Matt McGowan has been promoted to VP and Senior Agent at Frances Goldin Literary Agency. At The Knight Agency, Kristy Hunter moves up to Agent.
Mabel Hsu becomes Senior Editor at Katherine Tegen Books. At HarperCollins Children’s Books, Rae Gande has been promoted to Senior Project Manager, Marketing Operations. Luana Horry and Clarissa Wong both move up to Senior Editor; Sara Schonfeld and Sarah Homer move up to Associate Editor; and Arianna Robinson moves up to Assistant Editor. Vaishali Nayak is now Senior Manager, Marketing; Katie Dutton, Senior Marketing Associate, School & Library Marketing; and Shaelyn McDaniel, Assistant Manager, Digital Marketing. Lena Reilly has been promoted to Associate Publicist. Caitlin Lonning is now Senior Production Editor. Kat Keating moves up to Senior Digital Production Editor. At William Morrow, Holly Rice is now Associate Publicist and Vedika Khanna has been promoted to Associate Editor.
Thom O’Hearn has been promoted to Senior Acquisitions Editor at The Quarto Group.
At Atria, Melanie Iglesias Pérez has been promoted to Editor.
Tiffany Gonzalez becomes Marketing & Publicity Coordinator at Astra House.
At VIZ Media, Julia Walchuk is now Publishing Sales Manager.
Samuel Thurman becomes Data Manager at Casemate Publishers.
Max Jones has been promoted to Ecommerce Operations Specialist at Ingram Publisher Services.
DULY NOTED
As of Spring 2021, Publishers Group West has announced nine new sales and distribution clients: Black Sands Entertainment, Felony & Mayhem, You Live Right, PM Press, Gibson House, Red Comet, Carus Books, Cune Press, and Invisible Publishing.
Lerner Publishing Services is now the exclusive distributor for the Page Education Foundation.
Effective July 1, the University of Chicago Press and the Chicago Distribution Center will distribute American Library Association publications in North America. These include books published by ALA Edition/ALA Neal-Schuman, ACRL Publications, and other units; bookmarks, posters, and other literacy-promoting items produced by ALA Graphics; and ALA’s physical seals, such as the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Carnegie Medal seals.
This summer Harper Christian is launching Harper Christian Resources, a new imprint “that will realign the company’s curriculum and study-based publishing strategy.” The imprint will combine church curriculum and small-group study resources previously published by Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, rebranding them at reprinting.
Chicago Review Press has acquired the sixteen-title catalog of children’s publisher Ripple Grove Press.
Chair Sidney Taurel will step down from the Pearson board no later than the 2022 annual meeting. Separately, former Macmillan executive and current Guardian Media Group CEO Annette Thomas will join on October 1.
EVENTS
May 12
Ghostwriting Confidential
online
May 26-28
U.S. Book Show
online
June 29-July 1
London Book Fair
online
